Ruth Hendrickson, age 96, died Saturday, August 9, 2025 at the Mapleton Community Home in Mapleton, MN. Funeral Services will be held Friday, August 22, 2025 11:00am at Bethany Lutheran Church, rural Frost, MN. The visitation will be held Thursday, August 21 from 4-7:00pm at Nasinec Funeral Home in Wells, MN, and will continue one hour prior to the service at the church (10-11:00am).  Burial will be in the church cemetery with Pastor Aaron Evenson officiating the service. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to go toward your local animal shelter.

Ruth Doris Hendrickson was born Nov 14, 1928 to Charles and Mabel Knutson in Clay Banks, WI.  She attended a one-room school house near her home where she grew up on a farm raising dairy cows and crop farming with 5 siblings near Sturgeon Bay, WI. Ruth attended Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) then Business college in Minneapolis and worked at Greyhound. In 1953 Ruth attended summer session at LBI in Seattle. She also taught vacation bible school.

Ruth was called to be a Missionary in Tanganyika and traveled through several European countries on the way to Africa and back. She was stationed at multiple locations in Tanganyika from 1954 to 1959.  Her plane trip there took her through Rome, Athens, Cairo, Khartoum, and Nairobi. On the way back, Ruth went by boat to Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, then flew to New York.

After returning from Africa, she attended Nursing school in Minneapolis and graduated as LPN, worked at Mount Sinai Hospital, and then worked at the United Hospital district for many years. Ruth married Henrik Hendrickson in April 1964 and farmed with him in Frost, MN until retirement. Ruth and Henrik had two sons, Peter, born in 1965, and Marcus, born in 1967. Ruth and Henrik spent 51 years together.

Ruth loved flowers and spending time gardening. She was proud of her Scandinavian heritage and enjoyed the organizations she belonged to. Ruth was an avid traveler, taking trips to Norway, Sweden, and other countries in Europe, as well as Iceland and South Africa with Henrik and other family members. Ruth and her family traveled to South Africa and Europe for 6 weeks in the Spring of ’77, they went to visit a man and his family who lived in South Africa who Henrik met in Sweden on a farm exchange program in ’59. That same man came to live with the Hendrickson family in Frost for six months in ’60. They also hosted one of the mission leaders in Bielefeld, Germany, who had been one of the mission leaders during Ruth’s time in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), as well as three host families that stayed Henrik stayed with in Sweden as part of the farm exchange program IFYE in ’59. Ruth and Marcus traveled to visit Peter in Guatemala while he was a Volunteer in the Peace Corps. Ruth was an active  member at Bethany Lutheran Church, the Farm Bureau, Sons of Norway, International Farm Youth Exchange (IFYE), and enjoyed attending local and state fairs. She also enjoyed frequent trips back to her childhood home to visit her mother and brother Elton, located between Sturgeon Bay and Algoma, WI as well as visiting her sister and family in Sleepy Eye, MN. She had a love for animals especially cats.

Ruth is preceded in death by her husband Henrik (2015); parents; sisters: Carol and Beatrice; brothers: Wayne and Elton.

Ruth is survived by her sister Gertrude; 101 yrs old of Redwood Falls, MN; her sons: Peter, and Marcus (Margy); and grandchildren: Josh (Errin), Lucas, Brandon, and Naiya.